please don't waste your money
I read this book as a favor to a greeny (the term I use for newbie traders) who wanted my opinion of it. While there are some decent trade observations in this book it is far from containing any original material. Most of the ideas and indicators have been lifted for other peoples ideas, which can be found free and easy with a little research. For example the type of gap play he decribes in this book (and gap theory for that matter) have been around for a min of 40 years and derives from old school pit traders. At least that's how I first learned of the strategy. Playing the gap is trading 101 when you first study classic charting techniques, or akin to the old axiom "always fade the first move". Please do not try these techniques unless you know what your doing, you will lose. Trying to put a rigid formulae on a gap play, like this book does, will put you in the poor house. Markets change constantly. Strategies must be adabted with those changing conditions. While I'm not sure I want to go as far as saying he's a huckster, I'm fully confident in saying he has taken other people ideas and passed off them off as his own. Perhaps a good businessman but unlikely a good trader. At least if Mr. Carter us practicing some of the ideas in his book.

Mastering The Trade
I was excited to receive this book because it is written by a seasoned professional and as such carries a lot more credibility than one from someone who never actually managed money. I am a money manager and systems developer myself and have managed huge positions and had many hundreds of clients. The first few chapters of the book cover some basics particularly those relating to psychology and setting up to trade. All of it is good. The section on computers is as would be expected for a book published in 2006. Then the book gets into some areas of trading. Chapter 5 is excellent and covers various breadth and/or market internal measurements. I found this chapter to be worth the price of the book as I have always traded with breadth and it was very nice to catch some differt viewpoints and ideas. John Carter is not a systems trader and I am. I code everything and test it extensively. Mr. Carter is a discretionary trader and as I started to code his methods (Part two) I found them to not hold up very well to the scrutiny of computer analysis. The concepts are still of value though, so I still recommend it as excellent reading and a wide array of excellent trading ideas that could be built on. Many times it is the process in the thinking that is of more value that the content itself. So, if you are inclined to purchase the book to find instantly useable trading ideas, you might come up short. But, if you want something that might inspire some of your own brilliance, of course, you may just find a jewel or two. Section three of the book covers more on planning, psychology and the game of trading. This is an excellent book for any level of trader.

A Must Have for All Traders
This book is a must for day traders. Carter's set-ups for buys and sells are amazing. Since reading and studing his methods I have almost doubled my daily revenue and looking at 6 figures this year.

If you only read one book (and I have read many) this simple to understand and well documented text will serve you for the rest of your career in the market.

Required in my opinion but the setups themselves don't seem great
I read John Carter's book "Mastering the Trade" from cover to cover. There is a tremendous amount of detail in his book. And plenty of it is very useful or even necessary to know if you want to trade full time in my opinion. As a matter of fact, I think after reading a bunch of books on trading, that one book singled out some weaknesses I had in my trading I was finally able to identify. I believe the book gives you a good frame of mind with which to look at the markets. However, I tried to quickly find some of the trade setups described in his book and found at least from a rapid, superficial look, that his trade setups don`t seem to be that promising. But, the book gave me a good idea how some technical indicators work. His ideas combined with ideas from Oliver Velez, Alan Farley, Josh Lukeman and Dave Landry (to name a few) make a powerful combination.

its a grate book, for new traders
i have been trading for 2yrs, so im a new trader, this books helps alot, and it convince me to switch from stoks to futers, its toold really help2. i loved the ttmsqueeze. i also found tradestation a grate trader platform, your going to love using the simulator.